Dear Editor,
[Re: Buffalo goring, 56-hour weeks alleged as Volken faces shutdown, 91原创 Advance Times, Jan. 29]
The reported allegations against the John Volken Academy 鈥渄rug addiction treatment facility鈥� in Surrey are horrific. Up to 56 hours a week of unpaid labour, workplace injuries, stress, opening of mail, restrictions on speaking? Clearly the institution should be shut down and investigated thoroughly.
But this shameful case raises questions about private treatment facilities more broadly 鈥� and the rush to push treatment above all else when it comes to drug use.
This is not an isolated example. Two years ago, allegations of sexual misconduct were raised against a former contractor at a New Westminster alcohol and drug treatment centre. Facilities that put revenues and even profit above human need are a serious threat to people鈥檚 well-being, especially those who are in need of care first and foremost.
Concerns about such facilities are especially pressing as governments are introducing policies of so-called treatment, including 鈥渋nvoluntary treatment,鈥� rather than harm reduction as the main response to the drug toxicity crisis. How many vulnerable people will be forced into potentially harmful, even predatory, situations under the guise of treatment?
Unfortunately, political panics about drug use can create a climate where the public accepts drug users being removed from sight behind the walls of abusive institutions that make money from the numbers of people they 鈥渢reat.鈥� Health care of any type must be driven by care itself 鈥� not profit, revenue, or cheap and precarious labour.
We need to pay much closer attention to the institutions being charged with, and receiving public money, for such services. Especially now when such facilities are becoming central parts of public policy around drug use.
Dr. Jeff Shantz, department of criminology
Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey
Editor's note: Allegations against the John Volken Academy have not yet been tested in court. The facility is facing a deadline of March 7 to close its doors, with an appeal hearing set to start May 5.
